10,000 Birds

MARCH 14, 2014

A bit alarming, given the events of the last few weeks in Missoula, but after years of close encounters with chipmunks and ground squirrels I have finally gotten to have a pretty good idea of a rodent when I hear one. The one thing that a traditional nature documentary often lacks is real characters, to its detriment.

Woodchucks 248

Woodchucks Chipmunks Rodents Seals 248

10,000 Birds

MARCH 15, 2021

And Giant Otters are still common in the rivers around Karanambu Ranch, home of the late “otter lady”, Diane McTurck, who used to rehabilitate orphaned otters and whose family still runs the lodge. Giant waterlilies at Karanambu Ranch. Giant anteaters are just one of the wildlife highlights of the Rupununi.

Guyana 279

Guyana Otters South America Colombia 279

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 20, 2016

The other saltators in Costa Rica are more classic members of this odd family. Unlike the master skulking antpittas, rodent performing tapaculos, and the cool weirdo foliage-gleaners, saltators visit feeders, gardens, and are pretty common. The Streaked Saltator does indeed have streaks, at least in Costa Rica.

Costa Rica 100

Costa Rica Kangaroos Rodents Species 100

10,000 Birds

JUNE 15, 2012

And as much as I’ve deplored the tendency to anthropomorphise the family lives of birds , this is one instance where I have to believe it’s worked solidly to avian advantage: seeing the birds tending their nests day in and day out tends to build up warm feelings.

Spain 180

Spain Europe Industry Rodents 180

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 8, 2011

This relatively new technique has been used to study relationships among and within several groups of mammals, including lagamorphs (rabbits and hares), rodents, and cetaceans (whales and dolphins), but I couldn’t find many references to its application in avian systematics yet.

Parrots 198

Parrots Falcons Indonesia Rodents 198

10,000 Birds

MAY 8, 2012

Furthermore we have another very special stork-like bird, the regal Shoebill , previously known as the Whale-headed Stork but now placed in its own family. It is quite a sight to experience hundreds of Abdim’s Stork dropping out of the skies from seemingly thin air, to gorge on burnt or fleeing insects and rodents.

Africa 248

Africa Tanzania South Africa Uganda 248

10,000 Birds

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

But I have been sick with different kinds and forms of cold since the beginning of December with no interruption, and so has my entire family. I frequently observed Blackbirds walking on the ground like rodents, even ducking under low tufts of grass. Okay, I meant to write an entertaining post. I honestly did.

Germany 162

Germany Blackbirds 2006 Denmark 162

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2016

They used Great T**s from non-urban and urban areas, and mixed them up through breeding, to rule out any possible family history of telomere length. Think about that for a moment … Anyway, we now know that the forebrain of some birds is more densely packed than mammals (primates and rodents, anyway).

Mammals 116

Mammals Zebras Birds Primates 116

10,000 Birds

AUGUST 19, 2014

Fortunately for we humans, placing primates properly phylogenetically in relation to the other mammals requires an act or two of faith at the deeper ends of the family tree, but it is probably true that primates and rodents share a common stock to the exclusion of others, so maybe we are all mice.

Camels 207

Camels Whales Whaling Apes 207

10,000 Birds

MARCH 21, 2014

Catch up with sightings of interesting species with other guides (including the latest antswarm), process bird photography and sound recordings, research about birds or other elements in the forest, catch up with email of family and friends, blog about birding — a literally endless list of tasks to complete in the available free time.

Otters 160

Otters Parrots Birds Brazil 160

10,000 Birds

JUNE 21, 2012

Among the Efe (Pygmy) people that I lived with in the 1980s, the young men would in fact disappear from the bosom of their families and spend a lot of time, perhaps months, living on their own in the forest. Frogs and fish and insects and rodents yes, but not birds. And in those days there were bird books with pictures in them.

Birds 172

Birds Collecting Rodents Wounded 172

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 29, 2012

While eating lunch with Daisy and her family at a picnic area in Joshua Tree National Park the other day a small chipmunk-looking creature ventured out of the rock formation we were eating next to. The cute little critter was clearly looking for a handout which we did not provide.

Squirrels 214

Squirrels Chipmunks Idaho Mammals 214

10,000 Birds

SEPTEMBER 4, 2011

It sheltered him, it haunted him, and it set his thoughts adrift, to the warmth of spring and the family he had. He was an old male in his prime, and he had seen many things – but never had he envisioned dark times like these. The darkness was all around him. All were long gone. He was alone. And he was all that remained.

Blackbirds 154

Blackbirds Germany Shelters Rodents 154

Animal Person

JUNE 8, 2009

Beloved family pet Dalmatian, Pepper, is stolen, and after several weeks of searching is discovered to have been experimented on at a hospital and died on the table when researchers tried to implant her with an experimental cardiac pacemaker. We regularly subject rodents to pain, starvation, solitary confinement, and grotesque disfigurement.

Animal Welfare 100

Animal Welfare Monkeys Animal Welfare Act Vivisection 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 11, 2012

Generally the large family herds of buffalo are peaceful, but the old bulls (called “dagga” boys, “dagga” being a Zulu word for “mud” since they are often covered with the substance after their long wallows) who have left the herds tend to be furious with life in general and anyone they can smash in particular.

Buffalo 220

Buffalo Rhinoceros Elephants Leopards 220

10,000 Birds

OCTOBER 22, 2020

Despite depicting 540 species/56 families, it is a lightweight book of 173 pages, easy to pack and carry. Strictly speaking, Mammals of South Asia is not a field guide, because some larger groups (rodents, bats) cannot be identified down to a species level following the concise descriptions and a single illustration.

Asia 185

Asia Mammals Sri Lanka Bhutan 185

10,000 Birds

JULY 4, 2023

I’ve observed nesting owls, fledgling owlets, owls eating small rodents, owls coughing up their pellets, a Great Horned Owl silently flying over me, a Great Gray Owl sitting regally still on a post as a boy walks up to him, a pair of Barking Owls duetting in early evening hours outside my northern Australian hut as I brushed my teeth. .”

Owls 231

Owls Science Barn Owls Penguins 231

4 The Love Of Animals

MARCH 17, 2011

Elephants, whales, hippopotamuses, giraffes, and alligators use low-frequency sounds to communicate over long distances, often miles; and bats, dolphins, whales, frogs, and various rodents use high-frequency sounds to find food, communicate with others, and navigate. Paul says, “He would lick my face, or cry gently, or bark even.

Emotional 100

Emotional Animal Whales Whaling 100

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 1, 2020

I should add that the Big Owls taking over NYC social and even hard print media, dominating conversations with my nonbirder friends and family, are not the only owls in the five boroughs, but like a musical, the closer you are to Broadway, the closer you are to fame and fortune (and maybe even a higher quality rodent for dinner, who knows?).

New York City 206

New York City Birds Owls Fox 206

10,000 Birds

DECEMBER 27, 2011

The Collared Lemming is unique amongst rodents in that it changes colour in the winter to white. A friend of mine saw a family of eight Ermine while hiking this past summer. Where I live, there are two species of lemmings, the Brown Lemming ( Lemmus trimucronatus ) and the Collared Lemming ( Dicrostonyx groenlandicus ).

Owls 251

Owls Fox Oklahoma Soreing 251